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Collective Memories in the Baltic Sea Region and Beyond: National – Transnational – European?

2008; Routledge; Volume: 39; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01629770802461167

1751-7877

Jörg Hackmann,

Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeKeywords: collective memoryplaces of memorymonumentstransnational memories Notes Notes 1. This text is based on my introductory remarks to the conference 'Places of Commemoration in North Eastern Europe', Tallinn, September 2007. 2. See the contributions by Marko Lehti et al. and David Smith in this collection and also: Brüggemann (2008 Brüggemann, K. 2008. Denkmäler des Grolls. Estland und die Kriege des 20. Jahrhunderts. Osteuropa, 58(6): 129–46. [Google Scholar]); Brüggemann and Kasekamp (2008 Brüggemann, K and Kasekamp, A. 2008. The Politics of History and the "War of Monuments" in Estonia. Nationalities Papers, 36(3): 425–48. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]); Wertsch (2008 Wertsch, JV. 2008. Collective Memory and Narrative Templates. Social Research, 75(3): 133–56. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 3. See, among others, Kõresaar and Anepaio (eds) (2003 Kõresaar, E and Anepaio, T. 2003. Mälu kui kultuuritegur: etnoloogilisi perspektiive. Ethnological Perspectives On Memory, Tartu: Tartu Ulikooli Kirjastus. [Google Scholar]); Kõresaar (2004 Kõresaar, E. 2004. Memory and History in Estonian Post-Soviet Life Stories: Private and Public, Individual and Collective from the Perspective of Biographical Syncretism, Tartu: Tartu University Press. [Google Scholar]); Kirss et al. (2004 Kirss, T, Kõresaar, E and Lauristin, M. 2004. She Who Remembers Survives: Interpreting Estonian Women's Post-Soviet Life Stories, Tartu: Tartu University Press. [Google Scholar]). 4. English editions: Halbwachs (1980 Halbwachs, M. 1980. The Collective Memory, New York: Harper & Row. [Google Scholar], 1992 Halbwachs, M. 1992. On Collective Memory, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). From the many recent publications on Halbwachs see Krapoth and Laborde (2005 Krapoth, H and Laborde, D. 2005. Erinnerung und Gesellschaft. Mémoire et Société Wiesbaden, VS [Google Scholar]). 5. See Confino (1997 Confino, A. 1997. Collective Memory and Cultural History: Problems of Method. American Historical Review, 102(5): 1386–403. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Fowler (2005 Fowler, B. 2005. Collective Memory and Forgetting. Theory, Culture & Society, 22(6): 53–72. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 6. A by no means complete list includes: Connerton (1989 Connerton, P. 1989. How Societies Remember, Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]); Assmann (2002 Assmann, J. 2002. Das kulturelle Gedächtnis: Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen, Munich: C.H. Beck. [Google Scholar], 2003 Assmann, A. 2003. Erinnerungsräume: Formen und Wandlungen des kulturellen Gedächtnisses, Munich: Beck. [Google Scholar]); Ricœur (2004 Ricœur, P. 2004. Memory, History, Forgetting, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Also important is Kula (2004 Kula, M. 2004. Między Przeszłością a Przyszłością: O Pamięci, Zapominaniu i Przewidywaniu, Poznań: PTPN. [Google Scholar]). 7. Singer (2004 Singer, W. 2004. "'Perceiving, Remembering, Forgetting'". In Science + Fiction, Between Nanoworlds and Global Culture, Pictures and Texts: Texts and Interviews, Edited by: Iglhaut, S and Spring, T. 179–97. Berlin: jovis. [Google Scholar]) and Welzer (2002 Welzer, H. 2002. Das kommunikative Gedächtnis: Eine Theorie der Erinnerung, Munich: C.H. Beck. [Google Scholar]). 8. Halbwachs (1985 Halbwachs, M. 1985. Das kollektive Gedächtnis, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch. [Google Scholar], p. 103); cf. Assmann (2002 Assmann, J. 2002. Das kulturelle Gedächtnis: Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen, Munich: C.H. Beck. [Google Scholar], pp. 29–48). 9. Weinrich (2004 Weinrich, H. 2004. Lethe: The Art and Critique of Forgetting, Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 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Cf. in particular Koselleck (2000 Koselleck, R. 2000. Zeitschichten. Studien zur Historik, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. [Google Scholar], pp. 275–84) on the political cult of the dead. 15. An impressive description of the problem is provided in Judt (2002 Judt, T. 2002. "'The Past Is Another Country: Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe'". In Memory and Power in Post-War Europe. Studies in the Presence of the Past, Edited by: Müller, J-W. 157–83. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 16. Nora (1984–1992 Nora, P. 1984–1992. Les Lieux de Mémoire, Paris: Gallimard. [Google Scholar]), for the English version see Nora (1996 Nora, P. 1996. Realms of Memory, 2 vols, New York: Columbia University Press. [Google Scholar]); see also Nora (1998 Nora, P. 1998. Zwischen Geschichte und Gedächtnis, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch. [Google Scholar]). 17. This has been criticized several times in the French discussion. I am following the instructive overview prepared by Kornelia Kończal (2007 Kończal, K. 2007. Europäische Debatten über 'les lieux de mémoire' (Berlin Centrum Badań Historycznych PAN), available at: www.cbh.pan.pl/de/images/stories/pliki/pdf/prezentacja%20KK.pdf, accessed 25 August 2008 [Google Scholar]). 18. See Judt (1998 Judt, T. 1998. "'A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. Review of "Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past"'". In The New York Review of Books, 45, 19 Edited by: Nora, Pierre. [Google Scholar]). 19. Brix et al. (2004–2005 Brix, E, Bruckmüller, E and Stekl, H. 2004–2005. Memoria Austriae. 3 Vols, Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik. [Google Scholar]). Selected further publications comprise: Jaworski et al. (2003 Jaworski, R, Kusber, J and Steindorff, L. 2003. Gedächtnisorte in Osteuropa: Vergangenheiten auf dem Prüfstand, Frankfurt am Main, Lang. [Google Scholar]); Csáky and Mannová (1999 Csáky, M and Mannová, E. 1999. 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'Schnitzel und Erinnerungsorte' Der Standard 21 October, Vienna [Google Scholar]). 21. See the review by Nolte (2001 Nolte, P. 2001. Durch den Märchenwald der Geschichte. Das große Projekt der "Deutschen Erinnerungsorte" – oder wie man es nicht macht. Literaturen, 5: 92–3. [Google Scholar]). 22. Adriansen and Schartl (2006 Adriansen, I and Schartl, M. 2006. Erindringssteder Nord og Syd for Graensen. Erinnerungsorte nördlich und südlich der Grenze, Sønderborg, Schleswig: Museum Sønderjylland – Sønderborg Slot, Kulturstiftung des Kreises Schleswig-Flensburg. [Google Scholar]). An insightful presentation on Schleswig as a shared or divided place of memory has been given by Steen Bo Frandsen at the Tallinn conference on 'Places of Commemoration'. On Saar-Lor-Lux see Hudemann et al. (2004 Hudemann, R, Hahn, M and Krebs, G. 2004. Stätten grenzüberschreitender Erinnerung – Spuren der Vernetzung des Saar-Lor-Lux-Raumes im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Lieux de la mémoire transfrontalière - Traces et réseaux dans l'espace Sarre-Lor-Lux aux 19e et 20e siècles, (Saarbrücken). available at: http://www.memotransfront.uni-saarland.de, accessed 5 September 2008 [Google Scholar]). 23. It is explicitly based on the history of mutual German-Polish relations. See www.cbh.pan.pl/de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=0, accessed 25 August 2008. 24. See my report available at: http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id=1372, accessed 1 December 2006. A publication is forthcoming. 25. Cf. the mapping of lieux de mémoire trans-frontière by Foucher (1993 Foucher, M. 1993. Fragments d'Europe: Atlas de l'Europe médiane et orientale, Paris: Fayard. [Google Scholar], p. 69). 26. See for instance www.nordicspaces.eu, accessed 25 August 2008. 27. Although misunderstandings and different emphases cannot be excluded, of course. On Narva see Burch and Smith (2007 Burch, S and Smith, D. 2007. 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